7. Satanic Powers

"Why? You are the best guy for this job. A retired general, who knows about our enemies. Who knows about the conflicted region. Why? You think it's beneath you?" Roosevelt sounded desperate for him to take office.

But Hector had his reasons. "You know better than me what the papers and the men in Congress are going to say. The Senate has to pass the appointment of a Secretary, and I am the one presiding over the Senate, I have the tie-breaker vote. And if I ever take office, I will constantly have to preside over new bills and acts related to defence, I will be accused of some vicious things."

Hector wanted to stay in politics for a long long time, and becoming the Defence secretary would cause a lot of bad reputation. The only option left was to resign as the Vice President, but that would be like a demotion. Not good for career. He was Hell's Inquisitor, he could do many things, but mind-controlling the entire country was not one of those things. These were millions of souls after all.

Roosevelt sat back in his chair and thought about it. "Hmm... what you say is undeniably true. But I thought about you because as the Secretary of Defense, you shall have full control over the three defence services. And seeing your heritage, I felt nobody would question."

Hector ran some calculations in his head. ~Hmm... as long as I remain the Vice President, I will automatically become the President when Roosevelt dies. In the meantime, I can go to war to get myself so much fame that every single American will look at me with an eye of reverence.~

"Fine, but I am going to let the decision be up to the senate entirely." He clearly said. He didn't want to go against the entire Senate just for a Secretarial position.

...

Hector sat in his office, doing what most Vice Presidents do, a lot of reading, absolutely tiring and boring work. But while letting himself do this on autopilot, he thought about how to capitalise best on the knowledge he has about the world. Most of the companies that became big in the future were yet to be made, only Stark Enterprise was here currently.

Big companies such as FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google) were either a part of MCU or not, and even if they were, Hector had no idea if his existence would cause some Butterfly effect. The possibility was great since he was going to change so many things for America.

All he could do for now was invest in war-related companies, banks, and real estate in areas such as New York, LA and San Fransico.

"Hmm... World War 2 didn't have good helicopters from what I remember. I have the design in mind, all I need is someone to make the stuff to go inside it." He muttered.

Making Helicopters was of course not in his capabilities. He didn't have a godly genius brain. What he did have was money, and money could buy anything.

~I need a genius who is good at physics, mathematics and can make my designs. But getting one to be loyal is a big problem.~ he thought hard about what he should do.

For this, he even made a list of all the greatest scientists that are alive right now. Slowly he crossed many names, all the way until he found one name, a person whose life had turned into a tragedy, one who might appreciate his help. And if he plays his cards right, he can get the man to leave behind his extreme leftist and socialist thinking.

"Moony, my boy, let's go. We've got a boy to heal... or at least try." He got up, slamming shut the file he was working on.

"Woof?" Moony asked where.

"Haha, to the beautiful mountains, the country of black money safe heaven. Switzerland." Hector replied.

Who could stop him from going anywhere? Sure, going to Europe during World War was not the best thing, but he needed to go there since earning this man's loyalty was important, this way he won't have to be always dependent on Howard Stark whenever he needed something.

...

Despite Roosevelt's complaints, Hector left that same day. To save time, he took a Trans-Atlantic flight, it was a seaplane, as only these flew over such large distances since they had a security that even if something messed up they wouldn't drown.

However, flying was not a good experience, Hector this day learned that the modern world was truly spoiled. Flying was loud, cold, and unsettling. Airliners were not pressurised, so they flew at low altitudes and were often bounced about by wind and weather. Airsickness was common.

Poor Moony felt like vomiting the whole flight and Hector had to hug the good boy the whole way. Still, after hours of the bumpy flight, he arrived in Great Britain, though it was just to refuel and then head to Switzerland.

Hector looked out of the window as the plane flew over France. Thankfully, it was still just February of 1940, and Germany was yet to invade it.

...

Psychiatric Clinic Burgholzli, Zurich

It was a leading psychiatric hospital in Switzerland. As a research hospital, it was associated with the University of Zurich. And Hector had come to meet a boy named Eduard Einstein.

Eduard Einstein was the second blood-related son of Albert Einstein, born from his first marriage. Albert was a good physicist and mathematician but not a good family man. He left his wife to marry his first cousin and settled in America after Nazis came after his life.

God's punishment it was probably, his second wife also died in 1936 due to heart disease. Yet, Albert proved to be a worse husband, since he ignored his dying wife and focused only on research, which was his escape.

Now, Albert had 2 stepdaughters in America, who hated him, and two sons in Switzerland who hated him. One was permanently institutionalised in this institution to get his schizophrenia with Shock Therapy.

It was also kinda funny, how the boy was studying medicine to become a psychiatrist and ended up being the patient.

Albert made one after another bad life decisions, he was neither good at making career decisions. Hector knew that this was why the world was not full of Howard Starks, because to become Howard Stark, one needed superior intellect as well as a deep understanding of politics as well as business. This was what most scientists lacked.

In short, they were mentally handicapped, unable to think soundly about anything other than their research and area of expertise.

Using his influence, Hector met the boy, merely 30 years old. He's been in the institution for 10 years now and the last thing he had said to his father was that he hated him.

Hector was surprised to see Eduard masterfully playing the piano. "He's extremely good at playing the piano, sadly, he gets strokes, otherwise he could have been world-renowned." The doctor said.

~Sigh, and I will make him. But the cost will be heavy.~ Hector muttered.

He sent the doctor away and talked to him, "Kid, do you want to get out of here? Do you want to live a normal life, marry, have kids, love, play the piano, get famous?"

Eduard stopped playing and faced Hector. "AAAAA... NO! NO!"

Hector sighed, ~God, I hate using this power. It makes my face look like a demon's.~ he muttered to himself. The power he was using was called Crossroads Soul buyer. In this, one sells his soul for something they want, of course, the wish gets fulfilled but there are always terms and conditions applied... very harsh conditions.

Despite Eduard's screaming, Hector repeated, "Do you want to live a normal life, marry, have kids, love, play the piano, get famous? Give your mother a better life, meet your father, show your worth, make him proud?"

"WHAT ARE YOU?" Eduard asked.

"You know what I am, I shall fulfil one of your wishes, of course, for a price. Sign this paper, and you will have it all." Hector showed him a contract, that states he will sell his essence in return for his wishes being fulfilled. Essence was just another toned down word for soul.

Eduard thought about it for a while. He was not dumb, he just had a mental condition. He knew what this contract meant. And he also guessed this was probably a demon, heck, there was also a Cerberus(Moony).

*BAM*

The door of the room opened and people came in with a wheelchair. They wore masks and gowns. "Eduard, it's time for your shock therapy."

Eduard's face changed in an instant, getting filled with terror and rage. "NOOOO..." he jumped to grab Hector's feet, "PLEASE... ANYTHING... I WILL SIGN ANYWHERE... SAVE ME!"

And so, Eduard signed the contract with his blood, which came out of his nails that he scratched on the floor. As soon as he signed it, he fell unconscious.

"Sorry, Mr Vice President, he was having a stroke it seems. Please, wait in the lounge to meet him again." The doctor respectfully told him. To him, Hector was just a normal human, he didn't see any document either.

But after Hector was done, he looked at the contract, the terms and conditions always appear after it's signed, so even he does not know what it is. This time, the condition was, "Will die from a cocaine overdose in Hollywood in the Year 1965 as a famous musician."

"WOOF!" Moony suddenly reminded Hector of something.

*FACEPALM* "Argh... I had Super Healing Saliva power as well. I could have used it. But... well, I don't want to spit in a glass and make someone drink it later, that's nasty, so I guess this was a good deal too."

"Bow Bow..." Moony said, which meant, ~I could do it.~

Hector laughed and jokingly slapped Moony's head, "Of course, you would, you even drink water from the toilet."

~I only did that when I was a smol boy~ Moony barked.

Hector laughed heartily and headed out, "Bwahaha... whatever lets you sleep at night, son."

Angry, Moony growled and meaningfully barked, which meant, "DAD, APOLOGISE TO ME!"

"Grrrr... Wuf!"

"Yeah yeah... I'll get you some chicken later," Hector said lovingly.

Moony made noise, which meant, ~I LOVE YOU DAD!~

Gone was angry Moony. Good boy was back.